Jules — Chapter 20

On the battlements, Jules and Charlie escape the party’s crude game and look across to the mainland lights. Their closeness feels illicit, and Charlie cautiously asks if Will makes Jules happy. Feeling judged, Jules provokes him about past attraction; Charlie insists they’re only friends, which stings Jules and leaves the air charged.

Jules tests whether Charlie wrote the anonymous warning note but, hearing his confusion, drops it. Irritated, she ends the conversation, yet registers lingering mutual attraction and his possible jealousy as they part.

Back in the room, Jules and Will have urgent sex, partly to overwrite the humiliation of her exchange with Charlie. Afterward, a powerful sea smell unsettles Jules. When she gets into bed, her legs press into something cold and yielding. Will rips back the duvet to reveal a black, tentacled mass that at first resembles a sea creature.

Will yanks it apart and shows it is only seaweed, likely hidden there before they returned. Jules is shaken, realizing someone entered their room. Will frames it as a nostalgic prank his school friends used to play, suspecting Johnno or the group. Jules is furious at the timing and violation; Will urges restraint to avoid spoiling the wedding day.

They replace the bedding, and Will promises to speak to the men in the morning. Though soothed by his reasonableness, Jules can’t shake the sinister implication. The anonymous note—calling Will a liar and cheat—resurfaces in her mind. Despite plans for sleep, she remains wide awake, her doubts deepening.